Hillary Clinton's Week Just Went From Bad To Worse
Feb 12, 2016 05:51:48 #
Story By Chris Cillizza
Losing New Hampshire by 22 points to an avowed socialist was bad enough for Hillary Clinton. But then came the news first reported by WaPo that the State Department had opened a inquiry regarding the activities of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation during her time time as secretary of state. And bad went to way, way worse.
By my count, this latest State Department inquiry makes for three active investigations by the federal government that touch directly or indirectly on the 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner.
1. The newly revealed State inquiry into the Clinton Foundation and top Clinton aide Huma Abedin
2. The ongoing State inquiry into Clinton's private email server
3. The FBI investigation into Clinton's email server
And that list doesn't include the myriad looks Congress is taking into Clinton's time at State.
It's worth noting right at the top here that Clinton herself is not the target of any of these inquiries or investigations. Which from a legal perspective is very important, but which, from a political perspective, is far less convincing.
Here's why the latest revelation regarding Clinton's time at State is so problematic:
* It furthers the "where there's smoke, there's fire" argument. This hurts Clinton both coming and going. For Republicans, it hands them yet another way to suggest that something untoward is going on with Clinton. For Democrats, it increases their anxiety about the possibility of nominating someone who could fall under an ethical cloud just as the party is trying to elect them to the White House.
* It makes it increasingly difficult for Clinton, as she has done since the revelation that she had a private email server broke a year ago, to cast the questions raised about her time at State as simply a partisan fishing expedition. "There is a concerted effort to try to make partisan advantage by really trying to throw so much at me that even if little splotches of it stick, it will cloud peoples's judgment of me," Clinton told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow this week. "That is a burden I carry."
There is, without question, a desire on the part of many Republicans to cast Clinton in the worst possible light using almost any means necessary. But it strains credulity to believe that Republicans somehow concocted a way to get the State Department andthe FBI to look into Clinton's tenure at State.
Sanders, Clinton thank New Hampshire voters
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders told supporters in Concord, N.H., that his win there sent a "message" across the country. Rival Hillary Clinton said despite the loss, she still loves Granite Staters. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
As I wrote in this space this week, at some point Clinton will need to directly face down the fact that it's not just Republicans who are talking about her emails or her paid speeches or the Clinton Foundation. The numbers coming out of the New Hampshire exit poll make plain thatDemocratic voters care about honesty in their politicians, and those that prize it the most are voting heavily against Clinton.
The revelation of another investigation will only further those concerns and worries at a time when Clinton is trying to face down Bernie Sanders's increasingly robust challenge. Clinton will almost certainly be asked about the latest State investigation in the debate tonight. How she responds and whether Sanders or the debate
moderators push her on that response could be a pivot point not just tonight but in the race more generally.
.
Losing New Hampshire by 22 points to an avowed socialist was bad enough for Hillary Clinton. But then came the news first reported by WaPo that the State Department had opened a inquiry regarding the activities of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation during her time time as secretary of state. And bad went to way, way worse.
By my count, this latest State Department inquiry makes for three active investigations by the federal government that touch directly or indirectly on the 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner.
1. The newly revealed State inquiry into the Clinton Foundation and top Clinton aide Huma Abedin
2. The ongoing State inquiry into Clinton's private email server
3. The FBI investigation into Clinton's email server
And that list doesn't include the myriad looks Congress is taking into Clinton's time at State.
It's worth noting right at the top here that Clinton herself is not the target of any of these inquiries or investigations. Which from a legal perspective is very important, but which, from a political perspective, is far less convincing.
Here's why the latest revelation regarding Clinton's time at State is so problematic:
* It furthers the "where there's smoke, there's fire" argument. This hurts Clinton both coming and going. For Republicans, it hands them yet another way to suggest that something untoward is going on with Clinton. For Democrats, it increases their anxiety about the possibility of nominating someone who could fall under an ethical cloud just as the party is trying to elect them to the White House.
* It makes it increasingly difficult for Clinton, as she has done since the revelation that she had a private email server broke a year ago, to cast the questions raised about her time at State as simply a partisan fishing expedition. "There is a concerted effort to try to make partisan advantage by really trying to throw so much at me that even if little splotches of it stick, it will cloud peoples's judgment of me," Clinton told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow this week. "That is a burden I carry."
There is, without question, a desire on the part of many Republicans to cast Clinton in the worst possible light using almost any means necessary. But it strains credulity to believe that Republicans somehow concocted a way to get the State Department andthe FBI to look into Clinton's tenure at State.
Sanders, Clinton thank New Hampshire voters
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders told supporters in Concord, N.H., that his win there sent a "message" across the country. Rival Hillary Clinton said despite the loss, she still loves Granite Staters. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
As I wrote in this space this week, at some point Clinton will need to directly face down the fact that it's not just Republicans who are talking about her emails or her paid speeches or the Clinton Foundation. The numbers coming out of the New Hampshire exit poll make plain thatDemocratic voters care about honesty in their politicians, and those that prize it the most are voting heavily against Clinton.
The revelation of another investigation will only further those concerns and worries at a time when Clinton is trying to face down Bernie Sanders's increasingly robust challenge. Clinton will almost certainly be asked about the latest State investigation in the debate tonight. How she responds and whether Sanders or the debate
moderators push her on that response could be a pivot point not just tonight but in the race more generally.
.
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Feb 12, 2016 07:09:51 #
Gitzo wrote:
Story By Chris Cillizza br br br br Losing New... (show quote)
The saddest part is she still seems to have supporters. Never underestimate the power of large groups of stupid people.
--Bob
Feb 12, 2016 10:20:23 #
If only it were true.
I'm not a Bernie fan but I do appreciate the hard work that he put in and actually winning....and by a whopping 21 points no less.
However, this notion of the super delegates floors me and maybe, just maybe now Bernie will "get it". Maybe he will understand what it's like for middle America to work hard only to see the fruit of their efforts snatched away and given to someone less deserving...
The irony is not lost on me.
I'm not a Bernie fan but I do appreciate the hard work that he put in and actually winning....and by a whopping 21 points no less.
However, this notion of the super delegates floors me and maybe, just maybe now Bernie will "get it". Maybe he will understand what it's like for middle America to work hard only to see the fruit of their efforts snatched away and given to someone less deserving...
The irony is not lost on me.
Feb 15, 2016 03:46:12 #
rmalarz wrote:
The saddest part is she still seems to have supporters. Never underestimate the power of large groups of stupid people.
--Bob
--Bob
You know what the saddest part of all this is, Bob? It's actually not Hillary and Obama and the rest of spend, spend, spend flunky dimoCRAP stooges in the Congress who all come in "middle-class" and leave as millionaires.........the saddest part is the 45% of Americans who are eligible to vote and are ignorant enough and stupid enough to vote criminals like the Clintons and The Bummer into office in the first place!
Time will rid our country of the likes of the Clintons and The Bummers, but I'm afraid we'll always have the ignorant and stupid 45% that will vote for trash; unfortunately, what we won't have any longer is a country that's fit to live in!
Feb 15, 2016 07:07:02 #
[quote=Gitzo]You know what the saddest part of all this is, Bob? It's actually not Hillary and Obama and the rest of spend, spend, spend flunky dimoCRAP stooges in the Congress who all come in "middle-class" and leave as millionaires.........the saddest part is the 45% of Americans who are eligible to vote and are ignorant enough and stupid enough to vote criminals like the Clintons and The Bummer into office in the first place!
Time will rid our country of the likes of the Clintons and The Bummers, but I'm afraid we'll always have the ignorant and stupid 45% that will vote for trash;
yeh,, and she will skate on everything because she knows where most of the bodies are buried in Washington, in fact, she helped bury many of 'em.. blackmail works..
Time will rid our country of the likes of the Clintons and The Bummers, but I'm afraid we'll always have the ignorant and stupid 45% that will vote for trash;
yeh,, and she will skate on everything because she knows where most of the bodies are buried in Washington, in fact, she helped bury many of 'em.. blackmail works..
Feb 15, 2016 08:33:01 #
Gitzo wrote:
You know what the saddest part of all this is, Bob... (show quote)
Honesty and integrity are not part of "The Hillary's" attributes. Her coming under sniper fire in Bosnia was nothing more than an out and out lie. And yet we still have 45% of the extremely low informed voters who will vote for her regardless of her ethical issues. Such a sad state of affairs that we have such stupid people, who are allowed to vote.
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